Medicine: Total Eclipse for Cyclamates

Soon after the Food and Drug Administration barred the use of the
artificial sweetener cyclamate last fall, it modified its proscription.
Although the chemical had been found to cause bladder cancer in mice
and rats, the FDA decided that a limited amount could still be added to
food and drugs for persons suffering from diabetes, hypertension or
obesity. Last week, however, the federal agency closed even this narrow
loophole. Acting on the recommendations of its medical advisory group
on cyclamates, the FDA issued a total ban on the additive, forbidding
its use in all foods, soft drinks and drugseven those prescribed...